Is it efficient to work out 7 days a week?

amydworsky15

I go on hikes on my rest day. We don't do anything strenuous but it is nice to get out in the world.

nighthawk584

I weight train my whole body at once 2-3 times a week and do cardio and pushups/pullups on the other days. I have no problem with 7 days a week...it all depends how hard you are going too. I'm not lifting super heavy, but heavy enough to see progress.

MichelleMcKeeRN

I think it depends what you are doing. I can go to the gym 3 days a week for strength trading, go snowboarding and go for a few hikes all in the same week. I can’t go to the gym 7 days a week and put in good workouts. I was doing 3 gym days alternating with 1 rest day for a while and that felt pretty intense.

dewd2

Hopefully @Rinflozeu has figured it out in the 8 years since he posted this question.....

SchweddyGirl

I do some form of exercise every day. I run 4 times a week and then have "active" rest days where I only walk. I am starting BodyBoss next month as well (just the workouts). and will be adding them on top of my walk days.

jseams1234

OP hasn’t been on for 8 years...

firef1y72

I ran every day for over 18months and only stopped my streak because I had a funeral to go to.
Along with that I trained 6 days a week (in various classes/solo workouts and PT sessions)

I still do something every day, but for 6days a week it's multiple training sessions/exercise classes where I am training hard, plus running.

Then one day a week is my active rest, where I run with a friend who is a new runner and runs 4-5min/mile slower than me plus I do a 30min yoga stretch

magnusthenerd

It depends on what you mean by efficient and on how trained you are.
If you are relatively untrained, there isn't much to suggest you'll build muscle any faster lifting more frequently than hitting a body part once per week - for an untrained person, you could be gaining muscle with as little as 1 workout a week hitting full body. Note this is for hypertrophy (muscle growth), strength might benefit from higher frequency because of just the amount of time spent practicing lifts from training more frequently - strength has a skill component to it.

For advanced lifters, that darn unpublished Norwegian powerlifting study suggested training everyday could be beneficial.

Yes, technically muscles grow during the non-lifting time. However, when and how long recovery takes is different depending on training age / level. It also is not correct that hypertrophy is a result of causing micro-trauma that leads to tissue growing back larger in response - that's a model that came from thinking muscles work like bones, when they don't.
Weird this was bumped from 8 years ago.